The travelling girl VIII

"Whoa..." the girl whispered upon entering the secret tower left behind by the dragon race.

The walls, floor, and ceiling were made of metal, making her feel like she was inside of a spaceship. A series of monitors and lines of neon could be seen acting as decoration through the hallways. On the screens, a view of different parts of the forest was being exhibited, as well as a couple of crawlers moving through the trees and the ground.

Lian Garen pressed a couple of buttons and one of the doors inside of the room began to rise to reveal another chamber inside.

The child inside of the black armor began to feel as if she had been transported into the future. She could not believe that by simply giving a couple of steps outside she would return to the chaos that was the sea of trees ruled by the spider-like beings with the ability to infect others through their bite.

"I think we mixed some genres along the way..." she mumbled while trying to contain her gasps.

"What?" Lian just stared at her like a concerned parent worried that his kid might be lost in a shopping mall.

"Nothing, don't mind me... So, what's the plan? How are we finding the cure to these crawler guys?"

"We are not finding the cure, we are simply trying to figure out what's causing it."

"Isn't that the same thing? Usually, when you find the cause of the problem don't you also find the solution?"

"You tell me," he mumbled, "You're a problem that I have to deal with and I'm pretty sure I know what's causing you to annoy me so much, but I'd be lying if I said I already knew how to deal with you..."

"Point taken..." she shrugged, "Man... Talking with you is kinda annoying. You always have the answer to everything. You should be a lawyer."

"Focus, child!"

"Aye, aye, cap..."

Lian began to discretely observe as the girl walked around the dragon tower and continued to behave like a small kid while acting surprised by everything she saw.

He couldn't help but notice that she had started to relax a lot more while staying by his side. Even though a couple of weeks ago the only thing in her mind was ripping him to shreds, right now she had her guard completely down.

Or at least, it seemed that way.

Could it be that she had finally opened up to him? Did she finally leave behind her grudge over what happened with the human Thomas? Did their time together finally healed her pain and anger?

There was a chance. She was a kid after all, and a human kid no less. Lian knew if he played right he could get her dancing in the palm of his hand.

He just needed to know the current size of the distance between them right now. He needed a test.

He took a small peek and realized that she was glancing at a shelf of books without a single care in the world. The grip of her claymore that is made of wood at that moment had transformed into a scabbard and was hanging around on her back.

Lian couldn't help but be fascinated by that creature. Why was a human inside of an empty armor? What was her ruler thinking? Why was she so strong? What were the limits of her power?

If he could have one request right now, was that he wishes he could dissect that girl piece by piece in order to find out what makes her tick.

"These books seem very clean despite having been abandoned for so long. Did you guys have some sort of cleaning robot or something?" she murmured while casually picking up one of the books, one with the name 'Advanced Research on Mutation and Transformation.'

Lian Garen began to walk towards her with slow light steps, trying his best to not make his presence seen as the girl had her attention fixed on her reading.

He stared down at her as she continued to hold the book as if it was a baby and carefully began to lift his arm just slightly above her shoulder.

And with one move, he pressed his hand into the shelf, just inches away from touching her helmet, grabbed one of the books, and walked away in silence.

He began to pretend to read while processing what just happened.

The girl was shifting the weight of her body from one leg to another while in the middle of her reading, but once Lian got closer she began to stand completely still. The moment his arm moved past her, she freed one of her arms from holding the book to grabbing onto her weapon on her back.

Lian had his eyes fixed on the shelf at all times, but even without a face, he could tell, she was looking at him the entire time.

'She still doesn't trust me...' he thought to himself.

Right there at that moment, even after everything they went through, she still was completely ready to engage in battle one more time without a single drop of hesitation.

Even though there was the risk of destroying the entire tower in the process and lose all their research and any clues and means on how to handle the crawlers, their best chance at making a name for her and the possibly the only way to make the other races start listening to her, she was ready to give up all that just to start the cycle of eternal battle with Lian again.

After traveling so far, and spending so much time together, uniting their goals, and letting time, the best healer of broken fellings, pass... Lian could still feel it.

She could joke, she could laugh, she could play... But he could tell that she still despised him from the bottom of her heart.

Lian had once heard about beings that grow numb to their pain after being exposed so much to it, and some that even start to seeking it.

But even after being stuck together for so long, the girl still had not forgiven the red dragon for what he did.

Just how much more did he need to wait? Months? Years? In fact, would she ever forgive him? She wasn't a being of skin and bones. Could it be that this affected how her feelings work?

"Ugh... So much that I don't know..." he couldn't help but grumble.

"I know the feeling," she mumbled in response much to his surprise.

"What?"

"After coming here it took me a while to accept that this was a whole new world. After a while, I assumed that things would be just like they were at home, just people with problems that needed to be fixed..."

Lian was lost. What was the girl doing right now? She was opening up to him? Why? Why now? Was this meant to be a bonding moment? Was he meant to say anything in response or just listen in silence?

"But then I met those villagers... And they just rejected my help. And then we met those vampires, and they also rejected my help. I began to think that maybe it was all because it was a new world and maybe I just didn't understand the rules in here... But then I also think, that maybe... Maybe I just didn't know things in general... Maybe I was just too young to carry all this burden..."

She was still talking. Should Lian interrupt her? Should he let her continue? What would be the best choice to show her she could rely on him? He kept hearing her words waiting for a moment to prove her that she needed him.

This has always been his specialty, defeating people in the game of logic with his words.

"And then we saw this crawler case... And now I enter this tower that looks like something out of a set of Star Wars... And all these books with words that I can't comprehend for the life of me... And I just think to myself... Man, there really still a lot I don't know, isn't there?"

This was it! Lian's window of opportunity. The chance to make the girl realize that she not only could trust him but that she SHOULD trust him. That she needed him, and wouldn't be able to survive by herself. His chance to make her his prisoner.

"As long as you have me by your side, you have nothing to worry about, child" he claimed.

"Eh...?"

"Everything you don't know, everything you need to survive, to win, and to save those you care about... If you work with me, I'll give it all to you!"

The girl stared at him without moving.

"I said this before and I'll say this again, as many times as it takes... You are destined for greatness, the same way I am! All you need to do is rely on me the same way I rely on you, and together, there is nothing we can't achieve!"

Lian then extended his hand towards her.

"Stay with me! And you will never have to fear the unknown ever again!"

The girl gazed at his hand and then at his expression. It was clear from the way he talked that he was completely serious about every word he said.

And with that proposal on her mind...

"Pffft! Buahahahahahahaha!!! Oh my Lord! Oh my God! Buahahahahaha!!!"

...the girl began to laugh and cry for the first time ever since she arrived in this world.

Lian's arm began to shake as he slowly lowered it down while waiting for the girl to finish rolling on the ground as she kept laughing herself to death.

"Hahahaha!! Jesus Christ, your face was so goddamn funny! You looked like you were a scientist who had found out the secret of the universe or something!"

The dragon began to fill himself with rage the more her voice echoed in the room. It reached a point where he had to stab his own arm to calm down his anger.

"Hahaha... Ha... Ha... Oh, man... Thank you that was good. I think if I had a stomach I would be in a lot of pain right now..."

The girl then stood up after finishing her laughter and walked towards the red-haired man.

"Oh, Lily... You just don't get it, do you? The concept doesn't even begin to cross your mind, does it?"

She then picked him up by the neck and pushed him against the wall.

Lian's heartbeat started to go crazy as he assumed another fight was about to start.

"Let me make this crystal clear for you..." she mumbled with soft words, "You are a cold-blooded murderer who killed people without even pretending to act like you care... You're a monster. You can spit out all the nicest words your filthy little mind can come up with and offer me the secret to world peace and a way to end world hunger...

But that still won't be enough to get me to trust you.

You can't just revert death. You can't just try to fix the image you made on me after you killed a man, that's not how it works.

And you can't possibly expect me to believe that you give a damn about me, or about anyone for that matter, when you won't even feel sorry for those who suffer.

The crawlers, the vampires, the humans, and even the dragons! You saw each of them in pain and you couldn't care less about any of them.

So don't try to pull this 'I'm the answer to all your problems' bullsh*t ever again! I rather root in hell than ever even considering to believe in you for a single second."

She finally released him and watched him fall to the ground.

He had miscalculated the situation. She wasn't opening up to him. She was just talking out loud to vent her stress.

The floor was so clean that Lian could see his own reflection after lowering his head, and fear had completely taken over his entire face.

"Now stop playing around. You're not my friend... You're not my mentor... You're not even my guide... You're just my prisoner. Now and forever, until I say so. Don't you ever dare to forget that!"

Anger and hate caused his entire body to start trembling. Blood began to come out from his fists after squeezing them with every ounce of strength he had. A desire to scream out loud had to be held back in order to not allow that humiliation and disgrace to go even further.

The girl had seen right through his intentions as if they were made of glass.

That was the moment Lian Garen finally understood. No matter how talented he was with his words or how much time passed, that child would never be his to command.

And if he couldn't have her...

He would soon need to dispose of her.